Local Advocates Educate Immigrants Before Ice Raids

When you think of cities that you expect to see ICE raids in, Las Vegas definitely doesn’t come to mind right away. However, these are still affecting people in the area, seeing as many have friends and family in raid-affected states.

Regardless, the Trump presidential administration is still adamant about the usefulness of such raids in enforcing immigration regulations.

President Trump has stated that the raids aren’t something he enjoys implementing, but they are needed because there are people who enter the U.S. illegally. He firmly stood behind his call to gather illegal immigrants by dispatching customs agents to eight major cities in the country.

The raids will begin this Sunday.

Opponents to this measure are describing it as a political tool designed only to appease the GOP base.

Felipe Silva, the representative of Make The Road Nevada, has mentioned that he is personally afraid. He has added that he has friends, colleagues, and family that will be affected by these raids, which truly breaks his heart.

While the sitting president argues that these raids will only hurt criminals, immigration advocates in the Las Vegas area are saying that regular people who have only entered the U.S. in search of a better life will be adversely affected.

According to Silva, hard-working folks are being deported back to Mexico. And that means families being torn asunder and people being separated from their children. Silva went on to state that the intentions and the reality of the raids project were different in reality from what the president was claiming on TV.

This week, ICE agents will arrive at Miami, Baltimore, Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

This Saturday, tens of thousands of people in the aforementioned cities stood in protest with the immigrants who were facing deportation.

While the raids might not be happening in Nevada itself, local immigration advocates are keen on informing every immigrant they can reach — regardless of where they are in the country. They say that the best thing every local community can do is to gain knowledge of their constitutional rights.

If any family is arrested during the raids that will happen on Sunday, they will be transported to detention centers in Pennsylvania and Texas or to local hotels. From there, officials say that they will be deported to their country of origin as fast as possible.

Once more, immigration advocates are emphasizing the importance of every immigrant knowing their rights in case they face an ICE agent during the raids.

To put things in perspective, it’s worth taking a look at the number of deportations during the previous administrations. While President Obama was in office, almost 3 million illegal immigrants were deported, compared to W. Bush’s 2 million. And during the time Trump has been in office, only 750,000 immigrants have been returned to their countries.